


In the Cards

by sprocket



Category: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 06:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16383044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sprocket/pseuds/sprocket
Summary: Well,someonehas to keep them alive.





	In the Cards

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serenade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenade/gifts).



"Ben, cher," Meg called, not bothering to look away from her shuffle, "you done there? Could use a third."

Meg was fussing over Dek. Sal was in the bathroom, makeup exploded over every surface, while she fiddled with tiny brushes and tinier lines of color. Ensign Moonbeam had taken to staring at the departures lists with a fixed gaze one step from Dek at his lowest, until Meg had declared she wanted a card game. 

As if there wouldn't be card games where they were going. Three potential or confirmed captains _including_ Commander Porey were fighting over the star Hellburner team. They were shipping out with ECS4 under pretext of temporary orders. But rumor ran that plans shifted outside Sol's gravity and the Company's lightbound sight. "Ten minutes," he said, and punched another string of commands into the handheld.

Leaving the Solar System, leaving the effin' _Sun_ behind, as soon as the orders stopped flying and their visas cleared; and that, Ben thought, was the sum of Dek's problem in the here and now. The longhaulers, Pell, and all that lay beyond: that had been his partner's dream. Now Cory Salazar was dead and her partner was going where she'd longed for. Without her.

Ben, now, he just wanted to get through this tour alive, keep his _partners_ alive in an effin' war zone, where he'd never planned to be, and shipping with Porey was no way to do that. Scary cold temper on that man. Meg and Sal, now, could take care of themselves, had for years on R2. But Porey hadn’t taken well to finessing Dek. It was one of Ben’s ongoing worries, even with Graff running what interference he could.

Hell of a shouting match between Graff and Porey out of Porey's office earlier this week, something about the way the visas for Porey's star pick for his rider-teams just kept hitting that EIDAT security screen and bouncing into reg-u-la-tory snags. Porey had been an absolute bastard since. And there was only so long letting an honest man like Dek do the paperwork alone and letting the paper-shuffle cover the rest would delay the approvals.

A new message popped up on the handheld in the here and now. "Nyet, Meg, I’m out," he said, sliding out of his seat, which got a worried frown from Meg. "Anything comes up, look in the Lieutenant's office." 

The Lieutenant wasn't alone in his office - was talking quietly with a woman in Lieutenant Senior Grade Fleet formals whose eyes raked him over with an assessing curiosity. "Sir," he said to Graff.

"Thought you should be one of the first to know, Pollard. Captain Johansen elected to extend her term of service-"

Well, the Old Woman _finally_ jumped, Ben thought, but kept it off his face.

"-so Fleet Command is moving up the operational date for the ECS5," Graff said. "Captain Johansen's sent Lieutenant Mallory here for a chat with Basrami and Almarshad, but I thought you might like appreciate the introduction."

"Ma’am," he said to Mallory, saluting, and got the expected casual acknowledgement.

Random courtesy? Wildly unlikely. You wanted the Officer of Record to glad-hand and sign forms, you asked for Dek. This was po-li-tics, and possibly Graff's return for certain useful messages he was not entirely certain the Lieutenant had wanted dropped in his personal files.

Mallory said, "Johansen's taking as many from _Raven_ as wish to go, but we're still filling the ECS5 ridership crew positions. Now, Command's got your team marked for _Australia_ , or _Africa_ , but not all of the captains are excited to see one of Mazian's favorites snag the team that cut the Hellburner tape, especially not with the political edges this team has acquired. The way that Porey's cluttered up FleetCom, I dare say you might want another option." She smiled, thin, dry. "Care to jump ship, Pollard? JG claims you're the one keeping up with the chaff, you know what my Captain's worth in a fight."

_Good_ rep on Johansen, from helldeck scuttlebutt: tough, but fair; and a survivor. Loyal to her people. It counted for something, in Ben's books.

He smiled. "Think we can work something out, Lieutenant. Coffee?" It would not be a short meeting: he doubted Mallory had put down all her cards; but then, neither had he.

Morrie Bird's prize numbers man, trust the Fleet? UDC? As if. ASTEX, UDC, Fleet: different faces for the same special interests. The deck was stacked, but Ben had no qualms about restacking it in _his_ favor.

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to [raspberryhunter](http://raspberryhunter.dreamwidth.org/) for picking up _Hellburner_ and volunteering to beta!


End file.
